George W. Bush hospitalized for heart operation

Former US President George W Bush has undergone heart surgery after doctors discovered a blockage in one of his arteries during an annual physical health check.

"The procedure was performed successfully this morning,
without complication, at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital"
in Dallas, Bush spokesperson Freddy Ford said in a statement made
Tuesday morning.

Bush emerged from surgery “in high spirits” after the
procedure was completed, Ford told the Associated Press.

According to Ford, the forty-third president of the United States
underwent a stent procedure in which a supportive mesh tube was
inserted into a heart vessel to improve blood flow after a
blockage was discovered during a check-up at the Cooper Clinic in
Dallas on Monday.

"At the recommendation of his doctors, President Bush agreed
to have a stent placed to open the blockage," Ford said.

Bush, 67, is reportedly looking forward to returning home, and
will likely be discharged on Wednesday, and will "resume his
normal schedule on Thursday," Ford said.

“He is grateful to the skilled medical professionals who have
cared for him. He thanks his family, friends, and fellow citizens
for their prayers and well wishes,” Ford told reporters.
“And he encourages us all to get our regular check-ups."

Bush served two terms as president of the US from 2001 through
2009, during which his second-in-command, Vice President Dick
Cheney, underwent a number of similar procedures. Doctors did a
coronary artery stenting on Cheney’s heart just two months before
the first Bush administration began.